wind turbine technician

production worker

truck driver

assembly technician

senior technician

Vestas

For the most part, I enjoyed working at Vestas. I had a good manager, most of my coworkers were good and friendly (many were military veterans). The work itself could range from interesting problem solving to fix turbine issues, to monotonous day-in-day-out servicing doing the same things every day for months.

Troubleshooting was rewarding, interesting and required problem solving. Travel to assist neighboring sites was fun. Hotel was paid for and you got per diem on top of that.

Servicing turbines is repetitive, monotonous, and physically demanding; especially when you're working from -20 to 100+ F. 

Exposure to outdoor elements was really rough at my location during winter and summer. About the only way you're getting out of work in terrible weather is snow drifts blocking your access roads, blizzards, or lightning storms.
(Hard hat is only rated to -20F and it's -25F outside? That sucks, go climb that turbine anyway.) (It's 100F outside and 110F+ inside the turbine, surrounded by very hot equipment, and your task is going to require a non-stop 8 hour day to complete, if you don't want to do a 12 hour day? Sucks to suck, nearest AC is your truck 300ft down tower, but you gotta climb back up after)

For the level of effort and work, I felt underpaid by about $5. One annual raise was postponed (in March 2020) and I quit before finding out if it would ever be given.

Despite years of record revenue and profit and turbine order backlogs, the Global Bonus program was often axed for a given year. It was based on 4 business areas and your area (service) could have done exceptionally, but if one of the four didn't meet requirements, nobody got the bonus....

I didn't hate the job, it should just pay better, and that's with Vestas, one of the better paying companies that's not a contractor.

I would go back if I could work on turbines and not live in the middle of nowhere, or live somewhere, but not have an hour long commute.

So the traveling resource technician job is, by its self, great. You get everything paid for except for food and they give you $60 a day in per diem after tax. 
401k has a 6% match after 6 months. 
It's an easy job, at construction sites, all you do is stand there and answer questions that the construction workers have and then sometimes troubleshoot an issue. It's easy money with plenty of hours. You just need to be able to climb. Service sites are a little different, still easy but even more tedious tasks. 
Don't come here if you expect to do any real troubleshooting. There is no component level repair, and technically even a tec II can't troubleshoot until they are LOTO 3. which takes about 9 months. Most issues are wiring during installation. 
Everything is tribal knowledge. The work instruction is looked at more like a suggestion than a procedure. Once you get to a site, reading the work instructions will make you look like a genius because no one else does. 
Safety is a big concern. On paper, Vestas is top tier with their safety culture, and when it comes to Vestas employees, they are pretty good. But if a construction worker does anything, your manager will tell you not to report it, because they want to maintain a good relationship with the vendor. I was literally told not to report anything after witnessing a near miss that almost broke someone's shoulder or collarbone. While the very next day one construction worker falls and gets hurt. (irony?) 
Ultimately the construction vendors are so bad, that it is not worth working at Vestas as a resource tech for me. The vendors are supposed to be rated so that Vestas knows which ones perform well and are safe, but if we are told not to say anything, then well, it's only a matter of time before someone gets hurt.  

I worked at Vestas for over a year and had NO family time! From day 1 I was lied to and mis-lead. Started out at being told the site office was in one place when it actually was 45 min further north than that. Resulting in a 10 mile drive to a 50 mile drive ONE WAY! Then once at the site was told we would have a 40hr week as a training period because the site had enoughtraveling techs. Due to the managers inability to look out for HIS crews best interest and instead opted to make HIMSELF look good our 8 hr days turned to 12-16 HR days 6 days a week. Once thhe manager finally took over it went down hill from there. NOTHING was "in the budget". NOT EVEN WATER JUGS FOR THE WORK TRUCKS! We had to bring our own water with us with NO support to replace the water once up tower. Also once we got up there we were not allowed to climb down until the task was complete. If we did we were written up. I suffered a heat stroke because of that. It was 120+ heat index with no wind. I was up tower for 12hrs ( we all ran out of water after 4 hrs and was supposed to get more driven out to the tower by the manager but he "forgot") then climbed down after we were finished, drove to the 35 min back to the office in work trucks with bad A/C, and then finally able to go home. Drove the hour home and collapsed in my foyer to wake up 10 min later to my wife calling an ambulance for me. That was just 1 instance that poor leadership almost injured me and my team. There are multiple others. Out of the 9 employees that started at that site with me after 1 year there was only 1 left. 5 people quit with in 6 months due to the poor leadership. Also don't expect much help from regional management. Itis a huge buddy buddy system there. The medical benefits were great but all the other stuff drastically over shadows those benefits. If you do choose Vestas STAY AWAY FROM MONTEZUMA, IOWA!

Wonderful company who is in business to aid in improving the environment for my children. Compensation and benefits are very valuable and rare to find. Very flexible with home-life needs. Emphasized a team environment on the job and encouraged team with family participation. Most days are very fast-paced with constant communication with all departments. I learned operation of additional equipment including the Gantry and Kalmar. I became the Kalmar Trainer Certifier for Vestas Blades Americas in Colorado. Developed personal outside-the-employer relationships with some coworkers. The hardest parts of the job were seeking additional training in other departments or computer program access for warehouse. Technical difficulties are consistent and have great delays in getting repaired. Lunch breaks are not scheduled and, at times, can be difficult to schedule because of constant needs to be met by all departments. My favorite part of this job was the operation of the large equipment and the ability to move such large objects in small spaces. Being a part of a large company that cared about the earnings I incurred and the benefits I gained. The opportunity to work independently or with the team. My first employer who provided opportunities for my family to meet my fellow coworkers at various events and to take a tour of my employer's facilities. Although my position at this employer has come to an end, I am optomistc that I will gain employment with a new employer who values employees the same.

I believe your day depends on who you spend it with. So that being said, most people I've worked with don't want to be there, so if you were looking for a "fun" workplace you won't find it. The Pay and Benefits were nice. I was there for ~2 years so i know a thing or two.
Now we move on to "Real Talk"
This place sounds good... and trust me THEY TRY... but the upper management believe you can just say "THE CULTURE IS CHANGED" and suddenly everything is different. But as you know thats not how people work. Most of the co-workers are chill and as long as you do what you need to do, you'll be fine. But sometimes there is a lot unnecessary drama. But let's stay on task... the biggest problem is communication. For some reason the management doesn't want you to know if we have work for a month or a year? Moving up is only if you befriend someone in a higher spot and last but not least they will legit try to get you to lose pto, even when you give them a month in advance notice... now idk why? Maybe something wrong with the app or calendar but idk... 

(And hey if you are reading all of this I want you to know there are better options... i mean I stuck with this job until I got let go due to "..." i actually don't remember the reason they gave some of us? But it was actually kind of a blessing... i was getting married and if I was still working I wouldn't have been able to be so involved with everything... anyway, 

You're looking for a job, I'm looking for a job just prayin I find one I like. 
And i hope you do too.

Vestas, I wanted to love you as a job, but you blew it. 

The ridiculous rotating shifts were hellish, the way you made your employees fight and scrounge over the tools and supplies needed to do the job, the draconian upper management with their asinine edicts, the rude and rabid canteen personnel... They all took what could have been an idyllic "Forever Job" and turned it into a hellish endurance trial that, at the pittance offered up by the temp agency (which was NOT what was originally mentioned, incidentally) was not worth the ludicrous drama. You have a high turnover for very real reasons, and I suggest you get it together before you exhaust the love and respect of the entire community.

The work in and of itself is none too bad, when you're not trying to regain possession of the few working tools on the floor, and as mentioned above with a few corporate attitude adjustments you could become an ideal, wonderful place to work instead of the hopeless torment hole that you are now. Your company morale is good, your schedule (other than the damned rotation) was awesome, and your employees are great - You really, REALLY should treat them better than you do!

This company is grossly out of touch with what’s going on in the “trenches.”
The management didn’t acquire their positions. At least 95% of current management knew someone higher up before hire date, or ate as much “cheese” as they had to to get were they are in management after hire date. Absolutely not based on merit! Your hard work means little.
What do you think that culture breeds?

The “safety culture” is a joke! The ideas and forward thinking of the management looks great on a PowerPoint presentations or memos, however, it’s poorly executed at best. They waste money like they print they own! The company as a whole are very poor stewards of money! How’s that flange-to-can working fellas? 

I feel that outside of drawing a decent paycheck for the job position I performed, and how that paycheck contributed to the success of my family, Vestas Towers Pueblo was good for nothing else. I was terminated from the company due to injury. I was dropped like a rotten sack of potatoes after 3 years of employment. I couldn’t set up an exit interview, cobra my insurance, make necessary adjustments to my being let go, and had just under a hundred bucks worth of belongings stolen out of my locker before I could retrieve them. I could add too that list, but there is no need. 

If the job would get you out of a tough position monetarily, and you have the skills, Vesta Towers Pueblo is the place for you. How long you work there and put up with their bullcrap is entirely up to your amount of grit.

Days off and the benefits are good. Hourly pay and pay raises are horrible. They say you can get bonuses. Requirements for this I feel are extremely high almost as if to ensure failure. always excuses for No bonus. Supervisors are yes men very little to no support from them. Equipment and tools always breaking They say there’s no money in the budget to replace them but you must continue to get your job done somehow without proper tools. Training is horrible if you do receive any. Lots of engineers and supervisors but nobody can ever get it right. People in charge never know what’s going on. If you get hired and go in for orientation/training haha they make it sound like you could travel the world with this company and there’s lots and lots of ways to move forward and really make this a career a company that’s worth staying with. Nothing could be farther from the truth sounds real good that’s why 51% turnover rate. Anyways I hope this review helps somebody not trying to completely turn people away just want people to be aware it’s not all it’s made out to be. However some people do like it there seems to be far and few in between again I don’t mean to be so negative. A lot of people Put in extra time energy to learn a new process or To advance Only to never be paid what was promised Or have had position completely taken away.

Vestas has been an amazing place to work. With what seems to be unlimited opportunities to move within the company. I have myself moved around the world in positions with Vestas and know many others who have done the same. From my experience, upward mobility is best achieved by taking a different position within the company rather than expecting a promotion. This is okay, but it seems in many cases folks get disappointed for not being promoted when they really need to look outside of their position to move up (of course, generally speaking). 

Vestas has gone through several major changes over the past 7 or 8 years and has had to make some difficult decisions to lay workers off. Sometimes it seems there is no rhyme or reason in how the terminations are carried out, so it does not seem to be performance based. From what I understand by colleagues who have been laid off, Vestas is more than fair in the severance package they provide (here in the US), although as I understand it the policy has changed and is no longer so generous. 

I would absolutely recommend pursuing a career at Vestas, the people are fantastic, it is a global and very diverse company, there are challenges if you look for them, and there seems to be unlimited opportunity.

Job provided all their employee with gears and uniform from top to bottom, even for them temp staff. The overall work environment can be harsh at 1st, but the turn around rate is pretty low. When I worked there they alternated every 3 days on,  3 days off, and 12 hour shift. Where I worked we would cut giant fiber glass sheets and stitch them to start the layout for windmill blades. In between the sessions we would need to load and unload our products, along with finished products we need to roll them up with a forklift.

The management crew were friendly and worked really well with their employee. They listened to our problems and issues and addressed it to their best ability. The staff that I worked with made it worth going into work everyday. Best part is they if one person finished their work, they would help out the others to push the work flow.

The hardest part about the job would be the inability to not have every weekend off to enjoy with the family. With enough week rotations, we eventually got our weekends off.

The most enjoyable part of the job would the ability to do overtime when I needed it. Other departments are always looking to keep up with the workflow, they at times they will need volunteer overtime all the time

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Wind turbine technician 2 salaries reported	$22.75 per hour
Production worker 5 salaries reported	$16.96 per hour
Truck driver 2 salaries reported	$24.75 per hour
Assembly technician 2 salaries reported	$25.63 per hour
Senior technician 1 salary reported	$30.44 per hour

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